S.Korea stocks edge up; ex-dividend limits gains

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* KOSPI index gains modestly, foreigners buy
* Korean won rises versus U.S. dollar
* South Korea bond yields up
SEOUL, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index inched up in early
trade on Thursday with positive sentiment from an overnight
rally on Wall St being somewhat subdued as shares on the index
went ex-dividend. The Korean won and bond yields rose.
** According to the Korea Exchange, 40.51 points - equivalent to
2 percent - were shaved off the benchmark index by the
ex-dividend price adjustment.
** At 02:29 GMT, the KOSPI was up 6.21 points or 0.31 percent at
2,034.22.
** If not for the shares going ex-dividend, the market would be
up more than 2 percent, said Kim Ji-hyung, an analyst at Hanyang
Securities. However, it's early to say that markets have
recovered from the bearish spell, he noted.
** So far this year, the main index has lost 17.6 percent and is
down more than 20 percent from its peak, officially entering a
bear market.
** Shares of Air Busan surge as much as 42.5 percent
from its IPO price on the first day of trading. South Korea's
second-biggest airline, Asiana Airlines , is the top
shareholder in the budget carrier.
** The won was quoted at 1,122.4 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform , 0.27 percent firmer than its
previous close at 1,125.4.
** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,122.12
per U.S. dollar, up 0.14 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being
transacted at 1,104.05 per dollar.
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
was up 0.77 percent, after U.S. stocks ended the
previous session with gains . Japanese stocks
rose 3.64 percent.
** The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend
yield is 1.28 percent and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04
trillion won.
** The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index
was 167,824,000 shares and, of the total 894 traded
issues, the number of advancing shares was 523.
** Foreigners were net buyers of 62 billion won ($55.24 million)
worth of shares, while local institutions were net sellers of
357.1 billion worth of shares.
** The U.S dollar has risen 5.23 percent against the won this
year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on
April 2 and the low is 1,146.26 on Oct. 11.
** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds fell 0.04 point to 109.21.
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.92 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 1.822 percent, higher than the previous
day's 1.81 percent.
($1 = 1,122.4000 won)
(Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Sunil Nair)